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Sri Lanka to recognise around 65,000 people missing since civil war as dead
AFP, Colombo |  Updated: Jun 07, 2016 19:52 IST
News The Hindustan Times

Sri Lanka on Tuesday announced a landmark law to recognise as dead an estimated 65,000 people still missing seven years after the end of a bitter civil war, allowing relatives to claim inheritances.Ministers approved a draft bill to issue “certificates of absence” to the families of those who went missing during a 37-year war with Tamil separatists and a Marxist uprising.

“This measure will help tens of thousands of Sri Lankans whose family members and loved ones are missing and who are unable to address practical issues relating to their disappearance,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Under the current law, families cannot access the property, bank accounts or inheritances left by missing relatives unless they can conclusively prove they are dead -- an often impossible task.
Huge numbers of minority Tamils went missing during almost four decades of war after being arrested by security services, while thousands more died in military bombardments.
Several mass graves containing skeletal remains have been found in the past two decades, but only a handful have ever been identified.

Thousands of people also went missing during a crackdown by security forces and pro-government vigilante groups on Marxist rebels between 1987 and 1990.

At that time Sri Lanka was notorious for burning dozens of unidentified corpses on piles of tyres by the roadside -- so-called “tyre-pyre” burnings designed to drive fear into the rebels.

“Sri Lanka has one of the largest caseloads of missing persons in the world,” the foreign ministry statement said.

“In fact, since 1994 alone the government commissions have received over 65,000 complaints of missing persons.”

Official sources said a “certificate of absence” could be used to make claims in place of a death certificate under the new law, which is likely to pass through parliament in a few months.

The government last month announced it was setting up an office to try to trace the war missing in a move to bring closure for families.

The cffice of missing persons has been tasked with recommending compensation and clearing the way for next of kin to take legal action against anyone responsible for the disappearance of loved ones.

Troops crushed separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in a no-holds-barred offensive in 2009, killing up to 40,000 Tamil civilians.

President Maithripala Sirisena, who came to power in January last year, has agreed to a domestic investigation into violations of international humanitarian law.

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NATO-EU Relationship

Understanding the NATO/EU Relationship

Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Antoine, French Army, Strategic Plans and Policy
Published on 06 April 2014

NATO and the European Union share 22 members, the same fundamental values, and the same challenges. Nations use a single set of forces to achieve EU and/or NATO ambitions. Each decision taken by a Nation to commit under one banner has an impact on its ability to commit under the other banner. NATO and EU member States support each other (Turkey is the third contributor of the EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). NATO and EU operate in similar or complementary fields of expertise. Take Afghanistan, for instance, where the EU has been involved in the institutional reform of the Ministry of Interior, alongside NATO. Finally, NATO and EU address their specific capabilities shortfalls through cooperation.

Since 2003, NATO and the EU are unified by a “Strategic Partnership”. The initial intent was to facilitate exchanges and increase cooperation in several domains of common interest. This cooperation was hampered however, by persistent political issues. As a result, NATO and EU kept working side by side rather than hand in hand.

In December 2013, the European Council held a Summit focused on defence and security matters. EU Heads of States and Government called for a greater international cooperation, especially with NATO. As a guest of honour, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen replied to these expectations in a very positive way, saying that “we must develop real capabilities, those capabilities that our nations need (…) This requires greater cooperation, coordination and cohesion”.

The Conceptual Domain Offers Opportunities To Meet Emerging Challenges In A More Coherent And Efficient Way.

The maritime domain draws more and more attention. The complexity of cyber threats and defence requires exploiting all opportunities and expertise, such as Centres of Excellence. Defence and Related Security Capacity Building is an efficient way for Nations to project stability beyond their borders and act to prevent crisis.

There is room for greater cooperation between organisations, especially with the EU.

Increasing the focus on specific key capabilities could revitalise industrial cooperation and contribute to defining defence industrial standards, common procedures and certification that reduce costs. Harmonizing defence planning processes and the identification of common capability requirements could better facilitate potential industrial collaboration in the long-term and in a more systematic way. Replicating and expanding the already successful multinational cooperation models could finally help better manage the existing shortfalls in the short and mid-term.

http://www.act.nato.int/article-2014-1-10

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C4 Jon condemns EU campaign

ENB File Photo: Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow

Jon Snow condemns 'abusive' and 'boring' EU referendum campaign

Channel 4 News presenter says he cannot remember a worse-tempered campaign, dominated by negativity and bickering

Tuesday 31 May 2016 00.01 BST Last modified on Friday 3 June 2016 09.52 BST

The Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow has said he cannot remember a “worse-tempered or more abusive, more boring UK campaign” than that for the EU referendum.

The veteran presenter, who has fronted the channel’s news programme since 1989, said the media’s coverage was “no way to run a chip shop, let alone an interesting and informative campaign for a vote upon which all our futures hang”.

Writing in the Radio Times, he compared the campaign unfavourably to the “coherent and comprehensible” precedent set by the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence, saying it has been dominated by abuse and “intemperate challenging of facts by both sides”.

A report from Loughborough University this month found debate on the referendum had been dominated by Tory men and highlighted the narrowness of coverage, which it said had focused on the conduct of the campaign and personal rivalries at the heart of the government.

Snow criticised the complexity of the question posed to the electorate, which asks whether the UK should remain or leave the EU, rather than a simple yes or no.

He also criticised the “use of name-calling and politicians on both sides conjuring the views of dead leaders – who, from the grave, are in no position to dispute the claims made in their names”.

He said audience debates such as those on Channel 4 had provided some redemption, but “with so few weeks to go before the vote, I believe that the negativity, the bickering, the foul-mouthing, and particularly the wholesale abuse of facts by both sides have seen off most of our attempts to make the vote interesting”.